Here, at the end of all things
by endzela
Summary: It's been two months since the zombie apocalypse broke out in the whole world. Sasuke Uchiha, a survivor living in Tokyo, is scared of the outside world, but one day he stumbles upon a man with blond hair and a bright smile and decides to save him. NaruSasuNaru, Zombie Apocalypse AU.


**Chapter 1**

 **Nice to meet you**

Sasuke's heart was pounding wildly in his chest and his breath came in short, wheezing gasps as he pressed himself against the cold concrete wall, clutching a katana in his hand. He heard ragged roars coming from the way he had come, but they seemed getting distant, so the things probably weren't after him anymore. They were dangerous but also incredibly stupid and easily distracted, and this wasn't the first time he had managed to get away from them after running long enough. It was still scary as hell, though.

After steadying his breathing he took a couple steps, and when his legs didn't give out even though shaking like crazy, he continued walking towards the place he had been going before getting seen by a pack of those things. His stomach gave out a low grumble, reminding him that he hadn't eaten anything since the day before yesterday. Or had it been more than that? He wasn't sure. It had taken him a lot of mental preparation to leave his safe zone and go out to fight with those things again, but running out of food wasn't the best way to die either.

"Finally," he muttered as he saw the loosely hanging, lightless sign of the AEON mall across the street. He stopped before crossing the road, listening carefully to his surroundings, and everything seemed fine. He didn't hear any growling or footsteps, so he decided it was safe to sprint to the mall and slip inside between the broken sliding doors.

Everywhere Sasuke looked at was dirt, dust and dry blood. The people had gone on rampage in the first few days after realizing there wouldn't be enough supplies for everyone, and the city had been in a complete chaos back then. People killing each other over a pack of chocolate… It had been even worse to watch than seeing them turn into one of those _things_. Sasuke had seen both happen, and it still gave him nightmares.

The only thing breaking the quietness was the echo of his steps as he made his way to the food section, and the eeriness of the place made him quicken his pace. The faster he was out of there, the better.

Usually the stores had been stripped bare a long time ago before Sasuke even got there, but sometimes he managed to scrape up some things that had been either dropped down in a hurry or that had rolled under the shelves.

Inside of the store was dark with only a few rays of light coming through the entrance further away, so Sasuke had to turn on his flashlight to be able to see anything. The flashlight blinked and started dimming down until he shook it lightly, cursing the batteries, and finally the light brightened and stayed on. He got down on the floor, shining the light under the shelves to try to see if there was anything useful, but he could only see some empty candy wrappers and the remnants of something that probably used to be an apple.

He moved on to the next shelf, and just when he was about to get down, a scream and something rattling reached his ears. His head snapped up and he jumped back on his feet quickly, reaching for the katana resting on his belt. The scream hadn't sounded too far away, which meant it had to be in the same building. Maybe someone was in trouble.

Sasuke hesitated for a split of a second, but then he started running towards the noise.

He stopped at the bottom of the escalator to listen, and the noises were indeed coming from the upper floor. More rattling, cursing, a loud thump, and then a new type of noise appeared: aggressive growling and something that sounded like someone scratching a metal. Sasuke swallowed, trying to calm his nerves, and started sneaking up.

"Shit shit shit shit," Sasuke heard a male voice exclaim in a panicked tone, and when he got to the top of the escalator, he understood why. A blond man was standing on top of a vending machine, surrounded by three of those things reaching out for him with their rotten, grey hands, and a bloody baseball bat was lying on the floor a few meters away from the man, so he had nothing to defend himself with.

Sasuke glanced around to see if the man had any friends coming to save him, but he seemed to be alone. He didn't seem the type to try to trick others into helping either – his expression was too horrified for it to be acting – and Sasuke had made sure no one had seen him when he came here.

He bit his lower lip, grabbing a piece of a broken brick and throwing it to the other side of the walkway. The rotten things turned their head when the brick hit the floor with a clank, and they lost their interest in the blond man, starting to walk towards the noise with staggering steps. Sasuke breathed a sigh of relief, standing up from his position and signaling the man to get the hell out of there. The man's eyes widened and he sent him a thankful grin before climbing down the vending machine, sprinting to get his baseball bat and then running to Sasuke.

"Man, you've no idea how –" the blond started, but Sasuke stopped him mid-sentence.

"We have no time to chat so save that for later," he muttered, starting to jog down the escalator. He didn't stop to see if the man was following him, but the other pair of steps behind him told him he was. Luckily those things were clumsy when it came to stairs, so even if they decided to follow them, Sasuke and the stranger would get away from them in no time.

After stepping outside they both slowed down their pace to catch their breath, and now in daylight Sasuke could see the stranger's features much better. He seemed to be around the same age as him, and he was wearing a worn-out long sleeved black shirt and a pair of awfully bright orange pants that caught Sasuke's attention whenever he glanced towards the man.

"Whew, that was close," the man said, scratching his neck and swinging casually the baseball bat around while walking. "I was trying to search supplies when I stumbled upon this locked door, and because of the curious person I am, I wanted to open it to see if there was anything valuable. Well, I did found medicine, but I dropped it when those zombies caught me off-guard."

"Zombies?"

"You know, the sick people. Haven't you seen any horror movies? That's what they're called. Although they are far worse in real life than on TV," the man explained. "Oh, by the way, my name is Naruto! Thanks for saving my life, kind stranger." Naruto extended his hand with a grin, but Sasuke just huffed and ignored the friendly gesture.

"You should be more careful. And what's with those pants?" Sasuke asked.

"What about my pants?"

"They're orange. You attract too much attention."

Naruto shrugged, putting his hand in his pocket. "I've managed to survive until now while wearing them, so I don't see why they would be a problem. Besides, isn't wearing only black just boring? Why do you even care?"

Sasuke stopped in his tracks, making Naruto almost bump into him. "You're right: I don't. In fact, we're going our separate ways now, so you can stop following me."

"Aw, come on! You can't leave me here alone! I got separated from my group a week ago and I don't know where they are," Naruto pleaded, grabbing Sasuke's arm to prevent him from leaving. "Two is better than one! I can guard you while you sleep, tell you jokes, massage your shoulders, share my food…"

Sasuke sighed, rubbing his temples with closed eyes. Saving the stranger had turned out to be much more of a nuisance than he had originally thought, and he hadn't even found anything to eat. There were only about two hours until sunset, so he probably wouldn't be able to scrape up anything before dark. And he was hungry.

"Fine. You can stay with me, but just for tonight," Sasuke said, and Naruto's face lit up with a smile as bright as the sun. Sasuke felt a weird ticklish feeling bubbling inside his stomach when the blond smiled at him, and he had to turn his gaze away and continue walking.

"Thank you so much! You won't regret this," Naruto beamed, following him. "I don't think I caught your name..?"

"Sasuke," Sasuke answered shortly, trying to focus on his surroundings. It was never wise to let your guard down while walking on the street, especially near sunset. The darkness seemed to make the things – or zombies, as Naruto had called them – more restless than usually, and their loud growling had kept Sasuke awake many nights.

"Sasuke, huh? That's a nice name," Naruto said, putting his hand in his pocket again. "So where do you live?"

"Stop asking so many questions. We should stay quiet," Sasuke said with a huff. The blond man talked too loudly and carefree – didn't he know that it was dangerous around here?

"Not much of a talker, are you? Okay, I'll save the questions for later."

They walked four kilometers, making a lot of turns, climbing up and down buildings and having to backtrack a few times after seeing that some of the roads had gotten blocked by a herd of zombies, and to Sasuke's surprise the blond man managed to keep his mouth shut almost the whole time. It had already started getting dark when they reached a twenty-story apartment building that was close to a bombed down hospital, and most of the building's windows were broken. Sasuke led Naruto through the front door, and after they were inside he barricaded it with a sofa and rolled two sharp looking spike strips on the floor.

"Will that slow them down?" Naruto asked, and Sasuke could feel Naruto's eyes linger on his body as he bent down to roll the spike strips. He had offered to help him, but Sasuke had insisted on doing everything by himself.

"This is just a precaution. The front door should be enough to stop them, but I just want to be sure," Sasuke said, taking out his flashlight.

Pieces of cement and broken glass crunched under their feet as they walked further into the building, and the hallway would have been pitch-black without the gloomy light coming from the flashlight. Naruto walked right next to Sasuke, their shoulders brushing together from time to time, and every time Sasuke tried to get distance between them Naruto stepped in the same direction. Sasuke wasn't sure if the blond did it unconsciously or not, so he just sighed and let it be.

"Through here," Sasuke guided Naruto to one of the apartments, stopping under a hole in the ceiling where a rope ladder was hanging down.

"Can't we use the stairs?"

"The stairs are collapsed, so unless you want to take a visit to the basement, you should do this my way." Sasuke nodded towards the ladder. "You go first."

"You just want to check out my ass," Naruto said with a grin but started climbing up anyway.

"Why would I want to?" Sasuke muttered to himself, shaking his head. The ladder swayed back and forth with every step, and Naruto had to stop a few times to keep his balance. When he had climbed up to the top safely, Sasuke put the flashlight between his teeth and followed him.

"This building is somehow really creepy… Are you sure there are no zombies here? I don't want to accidentally stumble upon one in this darkness," Naruto said as he helped Sasuke get up. The hole had led to a messy living room that was full of torn clothes and knocked-down furniture, and Naruto's lips stretched into a thin line when he noticed a bloody teddy bear on the floor in the faint light of the flashlight. A cold night breeze came through the broken window, making both of them shiver.

"Yeah. I checked all of the apartments and took care of the few dead people – or what was left of them." Sasuke didn't want to think about it anymore, so after he had pulled the rope ladder up he hurried out of the apartment, leaving his bad memories behind. "My place is just down the hallway."

"You live on the second floor even though you could've just chosen the top floor apartment? Man, I don't understand you. Imagine those views," Naruto said. "And it's not like the previous owner needs it anymore."

Sasuke rolled his eyes even though Naruto couldn't see it in the dark. "The second floor is close to the ground, and if I had to escape it would still be possible to jump down. And it's safer than staying on the first floor where practically anyone could come in." He wasn't sure why he even bothered to explain himself to this man, who he had known only for a couple hours and who he would probably never see again after tomorrow. It had been too long since he had talked to anyone.

"Whoa, you've seriously thought of everything!"

"It's called common sense. How did you manage to survive this long?"

Naruto went quiet for a while, and then he let out a small chuckle. "I don't know… I've been lucky I suppose. And I've had my group to support me until now. Don't you have anyone?"

Sasuke didn't answer, and soon they were in front of the wooden door of his apartment. He pushed the door open and stepped inside, taking off his combat shoes and putting them neatly to the corner of the genkan. "You can wear these," he said and handed a pair of grey slippers to Naruto, who was looking at him with disbelief like he had just insulted his mother.

"The world is ending and you want me to take off my shoes?"

"The world ending doesn't mean that I should tolerate mud in my own apartment." Sasuke raised his eyebrows, nodding towards the slippers. "Well?"

"Okay, whatever you say."

Sasuke let out a satisfied hum and left the blond man to change his sneakers into slippers with reluctant muttering. He dropped his backpack on the floor in the living room, lighting three green candles on a chabudai table, and a sweet scent of an apple spread out in the room along with a warm light dancing on the walls. Naruto came in two minutes later, sitting down on a cushion next to the table and starting immediately rummaging through his duffel bag in search for food.

"What do you want to eat? I have three instant ramen packages, a small bag of rice, two miso soup packets, a bag of chips, canned tuna, three water bottles and a bottle of pocari sweat. Oh, there's also chocolate if you want," Naruto grinned, placing each of the things he mentioned on the table as he talked.

Sasuke's mouth watered just from seeing it all, but a sudden nauseous feeling washing over him had him sit down and lean on the table with one hand to support himself. He heard ringing in his ears and his vision blacked for what felt like an eternity, and when it came back the first thing he saw was Naruto's face only centimeters away from his, scrunched up with worry.

"You okay? Your face is pale and you're all sweaty," Naruto asked, touching his forehead before he could react. "Geez, you're cold! How long has it been since you last ate? Here, drink this while I make you some food." The blond man shoved the pocari sweat bottle to him and took one of the candles and the bag of rice with him, marching into the next room which he thought would be the kitchen. "Does your gas stove still work?" he yelled.

"Yes, it does," Sasuke answered quietly, taking a big gulp from the bottle. It tasted like heaven after drinking only water for the past month. He heard pots and pans clattering as Naruto tried to find something to cook the rice with, so he stood up and followed him to the kitchen.

"Come on, co-operate with me you bastard," Naruto groaned at the stove, trying to light it up with a match but ending up only burning his fingers, which made Sasuke snort behind his back. The blond man pouted like a five-year-old. "This is no laughing matter! You should rest and let me take care of this."

"And let you waste all of the matches? No thanks." He took the matches from Naruto, lighting up the stove with one try. Naruto stared at him with wide eyes, and then he bowed to him deeply.

"Oh, holy fire god, I plead for your leniency –"

"Stop being dramatic," Sasuke said. He caught himself smiling, though, and had to cover it up by turning to cough.

"Oookay, that's it, you're going to rest now!" To demonstrate his words, Naruto gently shoved Sasuke back to the living room, pushing him down to sit at the table. "Stay there, don't move. I'll know if you've moved!" He grinned and patted him on the head. Sasuke's heart skipped a beat when the blond's hand lingered there for a second before he turned around.

Sasuke touched the spot on his head where the man's hand had just been, and he swallowed hard. He felt weird, not like himself at all.

A cozy smell of boiling rice floated from the kitchen, and the hunger started gnawing in Sasuke's stomach even more, so he drank the pocari sweat bottle empty to fill his stomach with something. Then he froze. He had drunk the whole bottle without even thinking – what if Naruto had poisoned it?

He waited for something to happen; for his body to get paralyzed, his mind to get fuzzy, or something similar; but nothing happened. The pocari sweat hadn't had any weird aftertaste either, so it was probably just fine. Sasuke felt slightly embarrassed for doubting Naruto's good will, but one could never be too careful with strangers, although he had realized the possibility of the drink being poisoned afterwards. He was getting too careless around the other man, and it seemed dangerous to be around him any longer than necessary.

Ten minutes passed, and Sasuke was lost in thought when Naruto stumbled in to the living room, carrying a plate. He placed it on the table, presenting him four rice balls that weren't really in the shape of a triangle; they were more like grenades that looked like they were going to fall apart any minute. Sasuke took one of them in his hands, and crumbles of rice fell down from it as he ate, but it didn't matter because the taste was amazing.

"Sorry, I could only fill them with tuna," Naruto said and rubbed the back of his neck, looking suddenly insecure.

"Tuna is my favorite." It really wasn't, but it might as well have been. He was grateful that he actually got to eat something and that Naruto had bothered to cook for him. "Thank you, Naruto. It's delicious."

"Really? I'm glad to hear that," Naruto grinned sheepishly, eating one of the rice balls too. "This is almost like a romantic candle light dinner, isn't it?" He earned only a huff from Sasuke, who was busy eating and trying to get the image of a romantic dinner with Naruto out of his head.

They ate in silence, but then sudden, violent roars coming from outside startled them both. Hearing them shouldn't have been surprising anymore at this point, but those roars still chilled Sasuke to the bone. He hated them more than anything.

"Sasuke?" Naruto's voice was filled with concern.

"It's nothing. We should go to bed." Sasuke avoided looking at the other man as he got up and pulled a futon out of a closet, rolling it on the floor next to a wall. It took up half of the space in the small living room, so he always kept it in the closet during daytime, taking it out only then when he wanted to get some sleep.

"So, uh, do we sleep together or..?" Naruto asked, not seeming to mind the idea.

"No," Sasuke stated shortly, throwing him a thin blanket and a pillow.

"What? But the futon looks so comfy and it's nice to sleep next to someone…"

"If you want to sleep next to someone, I can go and get you one of the zombies."

"You know what? The tatami floor seems suddenly very inviting," Naruto said hurriedly and placed his pillow or the floor, making a burrito out of himself with the blanket.

"Good," Sasuke nodded, not being able to resist a small smile.

The room became dark as Sasuke blew out the candles, and the few rays of moonlight shining through the thick curtains helped Sasuke navigate to his futon without tripping over something. He pulled the covers over his head to block out the roars that were slowly turning into animal-like howling, but it wasn't enough; it was almost like the noises were coming right outside the building. Maybe they were. It wouldn't have been the first time a herd of zombies had wandered close to Sasuke's apartment, but this time it sounded like there were a lot more than usually.

"Are you asleep?" Sasuke heard Naruto whisper after a while. Who could even fall asleep while those creatures wandered outside, howling like a sad predator that had lost its prey? "I guess you are, so there's probably no point in me saying this… But thank you. Thanks for saving me. I really thought I was going to die out there today…"

Sasuke resisted the urge to tell him to shut up; that he shouldn't thank him because anyone would have done the same; but he stayed quiet and let the warm feeling inside him embrace him, even if it was just for tonight. He waited until Naruto's breathing grew slow and steady, and then he peeked under the covers to look at the man lying a few meters away from him, facing Sasuke as he slept. He still didn't know who he was or where he was headed, and he would probably never know after the night was over. He tried to tell himself that it was for his own good to not know too much about strangers, but it still made his chest feel hollow.

Despite his earlier thoughts, Sasuke woke up to something in the middle of the night and realized that he had fallen asleep at some point. It couldn't have been more than a couple hours since it was still dark, and he was about to roll over to his other side and continue sleeping while he could, but then his gaze stopped at Naruto who was trembling under his thin blanket in a fetal position, clearly freezing his ass off.

Sasuke sighed, taking pity on the blond man. "Hey," he whispered but got no answer from him. "Naruto." This time the other raised his head, exhaustion turning into a relieved smile as he noticed Sasuke raising the other side of his cover and patting the space next to him. Naruto crawled under the cover, snuggling up comfortably against Sasuke's back, which was a little too close to Sasuke's liking.

"Mmh, Sasuke… You're so warm…" Naruto muttered sleepily, letting his hand slide under Sasuke's shirt.

Sasuke flinched from the touch of Naruto's ice cold hand, and he quickly grabbed it and moved it back to Naruto's side. "No touching or you'll be sleeping alone." He never heard an answer because the other man was already fast asleep, surprising him with his sleeping skills.

Sasuke was slowly starting to regret inviting him to sleep with him, so he just closed his eyes and tried to imagine anything else but the heat radiating through Naruto's clothes and the chest that he could _feel_ rising and falling against his back. It was surprisingly easy, and after a while it had become almost soothing to the point that Sasuke was ready to fall asleep, but then Naruto pressed his lips on the back of Sasuke's neck in his sleep, breathing warm air against it, and Sasuke could hear the blood rushing to his face. His heart was beating loudly and he was too embarrassed to turn around to wake the other man up, so he just endured it, shivering slightly every time Naruto breathed.

Minutes ticked by, and Sasuke finally managed to calm himself down enough to consider sleeping again. Naruto would have to go first thing in the morning.

When Sasuke woke up, his first feeling was disappointment as he rolled over on his back and felt the empty space next to him. Then the feeling turned into denial – that was not what he had been thinking! – and then he cracked his eyes open to see Naruto standing in front of the window, looking between the curtains with a frown on his face.

"Sasuke, come and take a look outside," Naruto said.

Sasuke's stomach dropped at the seriousness in his voice, and he kicked the covers off him, walking to the window. The street under his apartment was swarming with zombies, and the horrifying sight continued to other streets as well. He had never seen anything like it.

"Something must have attracted them," Naruto thought out loud, closing the curtains. "What should we do?"

"About what?" Sasuke asked when he got his voice back. He still couldn't believe what he had seen outside.

"Well, uh…" Naruto scratched the back of his head. "I mean, you said I could stay with you only one night."

"Right." He had almost forgot. He couldn't send Naruto to his death, could he? "You can stay until the streets are clear."

The blond man's lips stretched into a grin and he let out a bright laugh, radiating sunshine into the room. "Seems like you can't get rid of me so easily!"

Sasuke rubbed his temples, but he was secretly glad that he had an excuse to keep Naruto with him a little longer. It wouldn't hurt to get to know him better.

* * *

 **A/N:** Hi and thanks for reading the first chapter! There will be at least two more of them, but unfortunately I'm busy with other stories too, so I'm still not sure when I have the time to update.

I debated for a long time whether I should use the English words for Japanese furniture etc, but then I came to the conclusion that it would be better to use the actual terms than to try to describe them in English. I hope you didn't mind it too much. I think rice ball is the only word that was translated since it sounds okay in English too, lol.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this and I'd be really grateful if you could leave a comment. :) Feedback is always appreciated!


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